Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

INVERESK
like edifice of 1805, with 2400 sittings, a high conspi-
cuous spire, and a churchyard which for beauty is scarce
to be matched in all the kingdom. Its ancient prede-
cessor, dedicated to St Michael, and supposed to have
been founded soon after the introduction of Christianity
out of the ruins of a Roman station, was gifted by
Malcolm Ceannmor to the church of Dunfermline. At
the time of its demolition it had four aisles, two upon
either side, and measured 102 feet in length. In Dec.
1545, barely two months before his martyrdom, George
Wishart preached to large congregations within its
walls ; and its minister for 57 years was Alexander
Carlyle, D.D. (1722-1805). He, 'Jupiter Carlyle'—
the 'grandest demigod,' said Scott, 'I ever saw' — left
behind him an Autobiography of singular interest, which
was edited by Dr Hill Burton in 1860. The prsetorium
of the Roman station of Inveresk, on ground now partly
occupied by the parish church, from 1547 onwards has
yielded a number of Roman remains — an altar, a hypo-
caust (1783), urns, bricks, medals, etc. — described in
David Moir's Moman Antiquities of Inveresk (Ediub.
1860). Pop. of village (1871) 341, (1881) 308.
The parish contains also the town of Musselburgh,
with the suburbs of Fisherrow and Newbigging, the
villages of Cowpits and Old Craighall, and part of
the village of New Craighall. It is bounded N by the
Firth of Forth, E by Prestonpans and Tranent in Had-
dingtonshire, SE by Ormiston, S by Dalkeith, SW by
Newton, and W by Liberton and Duddingston. Its
length, from N to S, varies between 2J and 3§ miles ;
its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 3| miles ; and its
area is 5925J acres, of which 71SJ are foreshore and 51|
water. The beautiful wooded Ssk enters the parish
1 furlong below the North and South Esk's confluence
in Dalkeith Park, and thence winds 3| miles north-by-
eastward through the interior till it falls into the Firth
between Musselburgh and Fisherrow ; whilst Burdie-
house Burn runs If mile north-north-eastward along
all the north-western border. The Carberry hills, at
the Haddingtonshire boundary, attain an altitude of
540 feet above sea-level ; but elsewhere the surface is
low and flat or gently undulating, and nowhere rises
much above 100 feet. The rocks belong to the coal-
measures of the Carboniferous Limestone series ; and
coal, sandstone, and limestone have all been worked,
the first from a very early period. The soil of the flat
grounds is naturally sandy, but has been worked into a
condition of high fertility ; the land to the S of Inver-
esk village, on either side of the Esk, is of better quality ;
and on the high grounds in the SE is clayeyyand yields
heavy crops of grain. Almost all the land, not occupied
by buildings or by roads, is in a state of first-rate culti-
vation ; and, though in places less planted than might
be desired for shelter and beauty, possesses the tine
woods of Newhailes and Drumore, and includes a con-
siderable section of the nobly wooded ducal park of
Dalkeith. The manors of Little Inveresk, having long
been held by the monks of Dunfermline, were given by
James VI. to the first Lord Maitland of Thirlestane,
under whose grandson, the infamous Duke of Lauder-
dale, they suffered much curtailment. With exception
of the parts that had been alienated, they were pur-
chased in 1709 by Anne, Duchess of Buceleuch and
Monmouth. Among natives and residents, not noticed
under Musselburgh and Newhailes, have been Admiral
Sir David Milne, G. C. B. ; his son, Admiral Sir Alexander
Milne, Bart, G.C.B., F.R.S.E. ; and Sir David Wed-
derburn, Bart., M.P. The chief events and antiquities
are treated under Carberry, Pinkie, and Musselburgh.
Nine proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and
upwards, 49 of between £100 and £500, 58 of from £50
to £100, and 140 of from £20 to £50. In the presbytery
of Dalkeith and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, this
parish is divided ecclesiastically between Inveresk and
North Esk quoad sacra parish, the former a living worth
£471. Two landward schools, Cowpits public and Old
Craighall, with respective accommodation for 59 and
75 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 30 and
47, and grants of £18. 5s. 9d. and £17, 3s. Landward
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INVERGORDON
valuation (1871) £24,489, (1883) £26,322, of which
£4684 was for railways and waterworks. Pop. of entire
parish (1801) 6600, (1831) 8961, (1861) 9525, (1871)
10,071, (1881) 10,537, of whom 7880 were in Mussel-
burgh, 5133 in Inveresk, and 5404 in North Esk. — Ord.
Sur., sh. 32, 1857.
Inveresragan. See Esragan.
Inverey, two clachans in Crathie and Braemar parish,
SW Aberdeenshire, on Ey Burn at its influx to the Dee,
5 miles WSW of Castleton. A fragmentary ruin is all
that represents the ancient fortalice of the Farquharsons,
cateransofDeeside, one of whom in 1666 shot the 'Baron
of Brackley. '—Ord. Sw., sh. 65, 1870.
Invergarry, an estate, with a hamlet, a ruined castle,
and a modern mansion, in Kilmonivaig parish, Inver-
ness-shire. The hamlet lies near the NW shore of
Loch Oich and the N bank of the confluent Garry,
7J miles SW of Fort Augustus ; at it are a post office,
with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph depart-
ments, a branch of the Caledonian Bank, a hotel, and
a public school. Close to the loch, and If mile SSW of
the hamlet, is a monument, erected in 1812 by Colonel
Macdonell, the last chief of the clan Macdonell, to com-
memorate the ' ample and summary vengeance' inflicted
about 1661 on the seven murderers of the two young
Macdonalds of Keppoch. It consists of a small pyramid,
with seven sculptured heads ; and the spring beneath it
is called Tober-nan-Ceann (' well of the heads '). The
ruined castle, i mile S of the hamlet, stands on a rock,
called ' Creag-an-fitheach,' or 'Rock of the Raven,'
whence the Macdonells took their slogan or war-cry.
Long the seat of the chiefs of the clan Macdonell, it twice
was visited by Prince Charles Edward — on 26 Aug. 1745
(just a week after the gathering in Glenfinnan), and again
on 17 April 1746 (the day after Culloden). Then he
found it all but deserted, and slept on the bare floor ;
and a few days later it was burned by the 'Butcher'
Cumberland. It was an oblong five-story structure,
■with projections. The modern mansion, 3 furlongs
NNE of the castle, is a handsome edifice, erected in
1868-69 from designs by the late David Bryce, R.S.A.
See Glengarry. — Ord. Sur., sh. 63, 1873.
Invergordon, a thriving seaport town in Rosskeen
parish, E Ross-shire, on the NW shore of Cromarty
Firth, with a station on the Highland railway (1863-64),
12| miles NE of Dingwall and 12| SSW of Tain.
There is a regular ferry, J mile wide, to the opposite
shore of the Forth ; and a small pier was built in 1821
for the accommodation of the passengers. The harbour
itself, with 16 feet water at spring tides and 13 at
neap, was formed in 1 82S ; and two large wooden piers
were erected in 1857 at a cost of £5000 ; but, since the
railway was opened, Invergordon has lost its steamboat
communication with Inverness, Aberdeen, Leith, Lon-
don, etc. The hemp manufacture is now extinct ; but
there are two steam sawmills and a large bone-crushing
and manure factory. A place of considerable mark,
substantially built, well situated for traffic, and of
growing importance for the export of farming produce,
Invergordon contains a number of good shops, offers
fine sea-bathing, and has a post office, with money
order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments,
branches of the Commercial and North of Scotland
Banks, 10 insurance agencies, 3 hotels, gasworks (1S72),
a Wednesday newspaper, the Invergordon Times (1S55),
and fairs on the third Tuesday of February, the second
Tuesday of April, old style, the first Tuesday of August,
the second Tuesday of October, and the second Tuesday
of December, old style. The Town-Hall (1870-71) is a
handsome Italian edifice, its pediment showing a sculp-
tured figure of Neptune ; the public school (1S75-76) is
a Romanesque structure, surmounted by a belfry. Ross-
keen parish church, If mile W by N, was built in 1832,
and contains 1600 sittings ; and Invergordon Free church
(1861), Gothic in style, cruciform in plan, with a spire 140
feet high, stands immediately N of the town, and con-
tains nearly 1000. Invergordon Castle, 7 furlongs NNW,
was accidentally destroyed by fire in 1801, but, as
rebuilt in 1873-74, is a fine Elizabethan mansion, with
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